Origin. Although Guido da Vigevano in 1300, and Leonardo da Vinci in 1500, designed armored combat vehicles, the first modern, motorized tank was invented by E. L. de la Mole of North Adelaide, Australia, in 1912. De la Mole sent his designs to the British War Office where they were filed away into bureaucratic obscurity.

Tommy invented the Tank. Working at Foster's Engineering Works in Lincoln, England, Wilson constructed the Mark 1, the first tank used in battle, and tested it in January, 1916. The Mark 1 was box-shaped, with two movable guns protruding from its sides and six machine guns. Manned by a crew of eight men, it weighed 26 tons and was driven by a six-cylinder, 105-hp engine at a maximum speed of 4 mph.

First Use. In the summer of 1916, the British offensive on the Somme was fast becoming the bloodiest and most useless battle in history. Desperate because each advance was costing him hundreds of thousands of soldiers' lives, British Gen. Sir Douglas Haig ordered the newly arrived Mark 1 tanks into battle in September, 1916. Forty-nine tanks rumbled toward the front lines, but 17 broke down along the way. The remaining 32 tanks were scattered along a 5-mi. front and, after a three-day artillery barrage, were ordered into action on Sept. 15, 1916.